Spends Summer as Intern at Center for Women and Families

Women and families have unique health and safety issues, yet sometimes the policymaking process can overlook these concerns. The National Research Center (NRC) for Women and Families helps address various topics in women’s and children’s health and safety by providing information to the media, policymakers and the public. Caroline Novas ’13 is spending the summer with the Center, doing research for some of the nonprofit organization’s projects and buildign awareness of the Center through social media. Her internship is funded by a Levitt Center Public Service Grant.

Novas is working with social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook, managing the Center’s profiles on these websites. She is also reading and rewriting health-related articles for the organization’s website. Novas attends conferences about issues relating to women’s health and represents the Center at some events. She has also been doing research in order to respond to health questions from the public. Novas’ other tasks include managing a Google Grant Adwords Campaign, through which the organization directs people to a website about breast implant safety, and researching different grants and state employee charitable giving funds.

Currently, the Center is investigating the FDA’s failure to adequately regulate medical devices, resulting in injury and death to patients. Novas will help prepare an article on this subject to be published in either a legal or medical journal and will earn a research credit in the paper.

The NRC for Women and Families is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing unbiased, nonpartisan information about various topics related to women’s and families’ health and safety issues. Founded in 1999, the Center achieves its goals by gathering and analyzing information, then organizing this information to into clearly-presented facts and policy implications. The Center publishes its findings in peer-reviewed journals on law and medicine, maintains an informative website for the public, and is frequently quoted by the media.

At the NRC for Women and Families, Novas is gaining an inside view of the policy making process and how legislation is made. She explains that women and families are generally underrepresented in policy making, and she enjoys contributing to an organization that works to remedy this situation. As a government major, was drawn to the NRC for Women and Families for its nonprofit objectives as well as the center’s connection to her career goals. The previous summer, Novas worked on a political campaign, and she feels that her current work is more applicable to her academic strengths in reading and writing as well as her major.

In her free time, Novas enjoys running, horseback riding, backpacking and writing poetry.

The NRC for Women and Families provides an important resource for the public, the media and policymakers alike. By applying her research and writing skills to this organization, Novas is helping to provide vital health and safety information to those who need it the most.

Caroline Novas is a graduate of Lake Forest High School in Lake Forest, Ill.